Drying apparatus and methods for ethanol production

ABSTRACT

The apparatus and methods disclosed herein relate to the production of dried co-products from stillage produced by an ethanol production facility. In various aspects, the apparatus and methods disclosed herein relate to an ethanol production facility that produces ethanol and stillage from grain, and a pulse combustion dryer in communication with the ethanol production facility to receive stillage therefrom and adapted to dry the stillage into a dried material

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a Continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.12/215,214, filed on 25 Jun. 2008, which application claims the benefitof U.S. provisional patent application No. 60/937,073 filed on 25 Jun.2007 and which applications are incorporated herein by reference. Aclaim of priority to all is made.

BACKGROUND

1. Field

The present disclosure relates to apparatus and methods related toethanol production, and, more particularly, to the apparatus and methodsfor the drying of stillage produced by the ethanol production process.

2. Background of the Related Art

The saccharification of polysaccharides derived from starch containedwithin grains such as corn, wheat, rye, sorghum, and rice has long beenrecognized as a potential source of mixed sugars for ethanol productionby fermentation. The starch in the grain is converted to fermentablesugar which, in turn, is fermented into ethanol. The ethanol is capturedfrom non-fermented and/or non-fermentable materials and solvent(s) suchas water and the remainder sans ethanol is emitted as stillage.

The stillage may be considered a co-product of the ethanol production,and the stillage may be further fractionated into various stillagefractions. If the stillage and/or stillage fractions could be dried toform dried co-products, the dried co-products may have nutritive valueand may have other utility. Accordingly, a need exists for dryingtechnologies for use in conjunction with ethanol production to dry thestillage and/or stillage fractions into dried co-products.

SUMMARY

Apparatus and methods disclosed herein may resolve many of the needs andshortcomings discussed above and may provide additional improvements andadvantages recognizable by those of ordinary skill in the art upon studyof this specification.

In various aspects, the apparatus disclosed herein includes an ethanolproduction facility adapted to produce ethanol and stillage from grain,and a pulse combustion dryer in communication with the ethanolproduction facility to receive stillage therefrom and adapted to dry thestillage into a dried material.

Methods are disclosed herein. In one aspect, the methods includeintroducing stillage from an ethanol production facility into a pulsecombustion dryer as a dryer feed material thereby obtaining a driedmaterial therefrom. In another aspect, the methods disclosed hereininclude producing stillage using an ethanol production facility,extracting a stillage fraction from said stillage, and introducing thestillage fraction into a pulse combustion dryer as a dryer feedmaterials thereby obtaining a dried material therefrom.

In various aspects, the stillage and/or stillage fraction is generallyin the form of whole stillage, wet distiller's grains, thin stillage,condensed distiller's solubles, or combinations thereof. In variousaspects, the dried material is generally in the form of drieddistiller's grains and solubles, dried grain fermented extractives,dried distiller's grains, dried distiller's solubles, or combinationsthereof.

Other features and advantages of the apparatus and methods disclosedherein will become apparent from the following detailed description andfrom the claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1A illustrates by schematic diagram an exemplary embodiment of anethanol production facility in communication with a pulse combustiondryer;

FIG. 1B illustrates by schematic diagram another exemplary embodiment ofan ethanol production facility in communication with a pulse combustiondryer;

FIG. 1C illustrates by schematic diagram yet another exemplaryembodiment of an ethanol production facility in communication with apulse combustion dryer;

FIG. 2A illustrates by schematic diagram an exemplary embodiment of apulse combustion dryer;

FIG. 2B illustrates by schematic diagram another exemplary embodiment ofa pulse combustion dryer;

FIG. 3 illustrates by schematic diagram an exemplary embodiment of anethanol production facility formed as a dry grind facility incommunication with a pulse combustion dryer;

FIG. 4A illustrates by schematic diagram an exemplary embodiment ofmaterial flow about the pulse combustion dryer;

FIG. 4B illustrates by schematic diagram another exemplary embodiment ofmaterial flow about the pulse combustion dryer;

FIG. 4C illustrates by schematic diagram yet another exemplaryembodiment of material flow about the pulse combustion dryer;

FIG. 5 illustrates by schematic diagram an exemplary embodiment of anethanol production facility formed as a wet mill facility incommunication with a pulse combustion dryer; and,

FIG. 6 illustrates by flow chart an exemplary embodiment of a method fordrying stillage.

All Figures are illustrated for ease of explanation of the basicteachings only. The extensions of the Figures with respect to number,position, order, relationship and dimensions will be explained or willbe within the ordinary skill of the art after the description has beenstudied. Furthermore, the apparatus, materials, and other parameters toconform to specific size, force, weight, strength, velocity,temperatures, flow, and similar requirements will likewise be within theordinary skill of the art after the description has been studied. Whereused in reference to the figures, the terms “top,” “bottom,” “right,”“left,” “forward,” “rear,” “first,” “second,” “inside,” “outside,” andsimilar terms should be understood to reference the apparatus andmethods as described in the specification and illustrated in thedrawings and are utilized for purposes of explanation only.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

An ethanol production facility that produces ethanol and stillage fromgrain is disclosed herein. One or more pulse combustion dryers are incommunication with the ethanol production facility to receive stillageincluding stillage fractions therefrom, and the one or more pulsecombustion dryers are adapted to dry the stillage into a dried material.In various aspects, the stillage is introduced into pulses of heatedcombustion products within the pulse combustion dryer as dryer feedmaterial to be dried into the dried material thereby. The ethanolproduction facility, in various aspects, is configured as a dry grindfacility, as a wet mill facility, or configured in other ways to produceethanol and stillage from grain, as would be recognized by those ofordinary skill in the art upon study of this disclosure. The resultantstillage may be fractionated in various ways into stillage fractions andthe stillage, stillage fractions, and/or combinations thereof may becommunicated to the pulse combustion dryer to be dried into the driedmaterial thereby.

Methods for producing dried material from stillage are disclosed herein.The methods, in various aspects, include providing an ethanol productionfacility having a liquid based processing stream, the ethanol productionfacility producing ethanol and stillage, and providing a pulsecombustion dryer. The methods may further include introducing stillageinto the pulse combustion dryer as the dryer feed material and obtainingdried material from the stillage. The methods, in various aspects, mayinclude fractionating the stillage into stillage fractions,communicating the stillage, stillage fractions, and/or combinationsthereof to the pulse combustion dryer, and drying the stillage, stillagefractions, and/or combinations thereof into dried material using thepulse combustion dryer.

GLOSSARY

The following informal definitions are offered for purposes ofillustration, not limitation, in order to assist with understanding thedisclosure herein.

Condensed Distillers Solubles (CDS)—the generally soluble portion ofwhole stillage (i.e. thin stillage) condensed by evaporation into asyrup.

Distiller's Wet Grains and Solubles (DWGS)—the generally insolubleportion of whole stillage in combination with condensed distiller'ssolubles in undried form.

Dried Distillers Grains (DDG)—the generally insoluble portion of wholestillage in dried form.

Dried Distiller's Grains and Solubles (DDGS)—the generally insolubleportion of whole stillage in combination with condensed distiller'ssolubles in generally dried form.

Dried Distiller's Solubles (DDS)—the generally soluble portion of wholestillage in dried form.

Dry Grain Fermented Extractives (DGFE)—grain fermented extractives indried form.

Grain Fermented Extractives (GFE)—type of whole stillage produced by anethanol production facility that uses a wet mill process for processingthe grain. The wet mill process in various aspects removes the germ,fiber, and/or gluten 436 from the grain so that the grain fermentedextractives is generally absent those portions of the grain.

Thin Stillage—the generally soluble portion of whole stillage.

Wet Distillers Grains (WDG)—the generally insoluble portion of wholestillage in undried form.

Whole Stillage—the remnant of the liquid based processing stream afterthe ethanol has been captured therefrom.

The Figures generally illustrate various exemplary implementations ofthe apparatus and methods of this disclosure. The particular exemplaryimplementations illustrated in the Figures provide for ease ofexplanation and understanding, even while being fully descriptive. Theseillustrated implementations are not meant to limit the scope ofcoverage, but, instead, to assist in understanding the context of thelanguage used in this specification and in the claims. Accordingly,variations of the apparatus and methods that differ from the illustratedimplementations may be encompassed by the appended claims.

The ethanol production facility includes one or more units 92 adapted toconvert grain 402 into ethanol 406. The ethanol production facility 10,in various aspects, includes at least a fermenter 160 and a distillationcolumn 170, and may include additional units 92 generally configured tocooperate with the fermenter 160 and the distillation column 170 toproduce ethanol 406 from grain 402. The fermenter 160, in some aspects,defines a fermentation chamber 162 wherein yeast ferments fermentablesugars derived from grain 402 into ethanol 406. Yeast, as used herein,includes yeast as well as other biological organisms capable offermentation, and ethanol, as used herein includes butanol, glycerol,and suchlike produced by fermentation. In other aspects, the fermenter160 is adapted to produce ethanol by non-biological processes such ascatalytic processes. A liquid based processing stream 193 containingfermentable sugars derived from grain 402 may be communicated into thefermentation chamber 162 wherein the sugars in the liquid basedprocessing stream 193 are fermented into ethanol 406.

The fermenter 160, in various aspects, is adapted to communicate theliquid based processing stream 193 containing ethanol 406 from thefermentation chamber 162 to the distillation column 170. Thedistillation column 170 captures the ethanol 406 from the liquid basedprocessing stream 193. In various aspects, the distillation column 170may be a configured as a still, distillation column, fractionationcolumn, absorption column, adsorption column, or suchlike adapted tocapture the ethanol.

Whole stillage 408 is the remnant of the liquid based processing stream193 after the ethanol 406 has been captured therefrom. Whole stillage408 is an unrefined mixture that may include, for example, unfermentedsugars, starches, non-starch portions of the grain, lipids, fatty acids,amino acids, proteins, and yeast wasted from the fermentation chamber162. In various aspects, the whole stillage 408 may be composed largelyof solubles, or may be composed of a combination of solubles andinsolubles. Whole stillage 408 may include, in various aspects, otherstream of material from other portions of the ethanol productionfacility 10.

The whole stillage 408 may be fractionated into stillage fractions 409,which may, in turn, be composed largely of the soluble fraction of wholestillage 408 or the insoluble fraction of whole stillage. Soluble, asused herein, includes generally dissolved materials as well as colloidalmaterials including lipids and proteins, very fine materials, and othernot readily settleable materials, as would be recognized by those ofordinary skill in the art upon study of this disclosure. In variousaspects, stillage 407 may include whole stillage 408, stillage fractions409, and combinations thereof. The lipids, fatty acids, amino acids,and/or proteins may make whole stillage 408 and/or stillage fractions409 difficult materials to dry.

A stillage processing unit 108 such as a centrifuge unit 205, filterunit 215, and/or flocculator 220 may be provided in various aspects toprocess the stillage 407 including whole stillage 408 and/or stillagefractions 409. The stillage processing unit 108 may process the wholestillage 408, for example, by extracting one or more stillage fractions409 from the whole stillage 408.

One or more pulse combustion dryers 30 are in communication with theethanol production facility 10, and the whole stillage 408, the stillagefraction(s) 409, or combinations thereof may be introduced into thepulse combustion dryer 30 as dryer feed material 73 Portions of theethanol production facility 10 may communicate with the one or morepulse combustion dryers 30 to introduce the stillage 407, includingwhole stillage 408 and/or stillage fractions 409, into the one or morepulse combustion dryers 30 as the dryer feed material 73 to produce oneor more dried co-products 430 as the dried material 75. Communicationbetween the ethanol production facility 10 and the pulse combustiondryer 30 may be by pipe, by truck, or other manner of conveyance invarious aspects.

In various aspects, the stillage fractions 409 introduced as the dryerfeed material 73 into the pulse combustion dryer 30 include WDG 414,Thin Stillage 410, CDS 412, DWGS 415, other materials derived from wholestillage 408, and combinations thereof, as would be recognized by thoseskilled in the art upon review of this disclosure. In various aspects,the dried co-products 430 obtained as dried material 75 from the pulsecombustion dryer 30 include DDG 418, DDS 420, DDGS 416, and DGFE 424. Invarious aspects, stillage fractions 409 may be processed by one or morestillage processing units 108 and then recombined in various ways withone another and/or with whole stillage 408 to form the dryer feedmaterial 73.

The pulse combustion dryer 30 may include a combustor 31 that defines acombustion chamber 32, a tailpipe 40 that defines a tailpipe passage 42,the tailpipe passage 42 in fluid communication with the combustionchamber 32. Some aspects may include a drying chamber 60 that defines adrying chamber passage 62, the drying chamber passage 62 in fluidcommunication with the combustion chamber 32. The pulse combustion dryer30 periodically ignites fuel 53 to provide a series of pulses of heatedcombustion products 59 that pass from the combustion chamber 32 throughthe drying passage 68. The drying passage 68 may include the tailpipepassage 42, may include the drying chamber passage 62, or may includeboth the tailpipe passage 42 and the drying chamber passage 62 invarious aspects.

A dryer feed material 73 may be introduced into the drying passage 68 ofthe pulse combustion dryer 30, wherein the dryer feed material 73 may beentrained in the pulses of heated combustion products 59 to generallydry the dryer feed material 73 into dried material 75. The driedmaterial 75 is drier than, and may be substantially drier than, thedryer feed material 73. In some aspects, substantially all of the watermay be removed from the dried material 75, while in other aspects, someresidual amount of water may be retained in the dried material 75. Forexample, the dried material 75 in various aspects contains less than 10%water by weight.

In operation, grain 402 is input into the ethanol production facility 10as the feedstock, and is communicated among the one or more units 92 ofthe ethanol production facility 10 as a liquid based processing stream193. The one or more units 92 of the ethanol production facility 10generally convert the starch in the grain 402 into ethanol 406 and thencapture the ethanol 406 from the liquid based processing stream 193. Asthe liquid based processing stream 193 is communicated amongst the oneor more units 92 of the ethanol production facility 10, the nature ofthe liquid based processing stream 193 generally changes, in variousaspects, from slurry to mash to fermented mash, and, finally, the liquidbased processing stream 193 is separated into ethanol 406 and wholestillage 408. Stillage 407 in the form of whole stillage 408 and/orstillage fractions 409 is communicated as drier feed material to thepulse combustion dryer 30 to be dried into dried material 75.

Particular embodiments are illustrated in the following Figures. Anembodiment of the ethanol production facility 10 is illustrated in FIG.1A. As illustrated, the ethanol production facility 10 includes units 92that form fermenter 160 and distillation column 170. The ethanolproduction facility 10 is in communication with pulse combustion dryer30, as illustrated.

The fermenter 160, as illustrated in FIG. 1A, defines the fermentationchamber 162 for the fermentation of sugars derived from grain 402 in theliquid based processing stream 193 into ethanol. The fermenter 160 isconfigured so that the liquid based processing stream 193 containingfermentable sugars can be communicated into the fermentation chamber 162wherein the fermentable sugars in the liquid based processing stream 193are fermented into ethanol 406. The fermenter 160 is configured tofluidly communicate with the distillation column 170 to communicate theprocessing stream containing ethanol 406 from the fermentation chamber162 to the distillation column 170.

The distillation column 170 includes a distillation column shell 172that defines a distillation column passage 174 having a base 178 and atop 177, as illustrated in FIG. 1A. A number of porous plates 176 areinterposed within the distillation column passage 174 to allow exchangesbetween the liquid and vapor phases within the distillation columnpassage 174. As illustrated, the fermenter 160 is in fluid communicationwith the distillation column 170 so that the liquid based processingstream 193 containing ethanol 406 may be communicated from thefermentation chamber 162 to the distillation chamber passage 174. Thedistillation column 170 captures the ethanol 406 generally near the top177 of the distillation column passage 174, in various aspects, andstillage 407 in the form of whole stillage 408 is recovered generallynear the base 178 of the distillation column passage 174.

As illustrated in FIG. 1A, the pulse combustion dryer 30 includes acombustor 31 that defines a combustion chamber 32, a tailpipe 40 thatdefines a tailpipe passage 42, and a drying chamber 60 that defines adrying chamber passage 62. As illustrated, the drying passage 68includes the drying chamber passage 62. The pulse combustion dryer 30also includes feed inlet 77 to allow the introduction of dryer feedmaterial 73 into the drying passage 68. As illustrated, a pulse of air55 and a pulse of fuel 53 may be introduced into the combustion chamber32 and ignited to produce a pulse of heated combustion products 59.Stillage 407 in the form of whole stillage 408 may be communicated fromthe base 178 of the distillation column passage 174 to the feed inlet77.

As illustrated, the pulse combustion dryer 30 is in fluid communicationwith the distillation column 170 to introduce the stillage 207 into thedrying passage 68. The stillage is introduced through the feed inlet 77as the dryer feed material 73 to be entrained in the pulse of combustionproducts 59. The pulse combustion dryer 30 uses pulses of heatedcombustion products 59 to dry the stillage 407, and the dried co-product430 is expelled from the drying passage 68 within the pulses of heatedcombustion products 59 as the dried material 75. As illustrated, acollector 50 configured as a cyclone 56 is provided to collect the driedmaterial 75 into bin 51. As would be recognized by those skilled in theart upon review of this disclosure, various pumps, pipes, valves,storage reservoirs, inlets, outlets, heat exchangers, process controlsystems, and other such apparatus and features would be provided as partof the ethanol production facility 10 to, inter alia, communicate theliquid based processing stream 193 between the fermenter 160, thedistillation column 170, and the pulse combustion dryer 30 and toregulate the ethanol production facility 10.

As illustrated in FIG. 1B, the ethanol production facility 10 includesthe fermenter 160, distillation column 170, and includes one or moreunits 92 that derive fermentable sugars from the grain. The one or moreunits 92 are in fluid communication with the fermenter 160 tocommunicate the fermentable sugars into the fermentation chamber 162 ofthe fermenter. The fermenter 160, as illustrated, is in fluidcommunication with the distillation column 170 to communicate the liquidbased processing stream 193 containing ethanol from the fermentationchamber 162 into the distillation column passage 174 of the distillationcolumn 170. The distillation column 170, as illustrated, is in fluidcommunication with the pulse combustion dryer 30 to communicate stillage407 including whole stillage 408 recovered from the distillation column170 into the pulse combustion dryer 30 as the dryer feed material 73 toproduce dried co-product 430 as the dried material 75.

The embodiment illustrated in FIG. 1C includes stillage processing unit88 to extract the stillage fraction 409 from the whole stillage 408. Thestillage processing unit 88 is in fluid communication with thedistillation column 170 to receive whole stillage 408 recovered from thedistillation column 170. The stillage processing unit 88 is in fluidcommunication with the pulse combustion dryer 30 to introduce thestillage fraction 409 into the pulse combustion dryer 30 as dryer feedmaterial 73 in order to produce dried co-product 430 as the driedmaterial 75 therefrom. In various embodiments, one or more stillageprocessing units 88 may be included in the ethanol production facility10 to extract a plurality of stillage fractions 409 from the wholestillage 408. The one or more stillage processing units 88 may beconfigured to communicate whole stillage 408 and/or stillage fractions409 including combinations thereof either simultaneously or sequentiallyto one or more pulse combustion dryers 30 as the dryer feed material 73to produce one or more dried co-products 430 as the dried material 75.In various embodiments, one or more stillage processing units 88 mayprocess the stillage fraction 409 to further modify the stillagefraction 409 and/or to extract additional stillage fractions 409 fromthe stillage fraction 409.

FIGS. 2A and 2B generally illustrate embodiments of the pulse combustiondryer 30. The pulse combustion dryer 30, as illustrated, includes acombustor 31 that defines a combustion chamber 32 and a tailpipe 40 thatdefines a tailpipe passage 42 with a first end 44 and a second end 46.The first end 44 of the tailpipe 40 is connected to the combustionchamber 32 so that the tailpipe passage 42 is in fluid communicationwith the combustion chamber 32. The second end 46 of the tailpipe 40 maybe connected to a collector 50 so that the tailpipe passage 42 is influid communication with the collector 50, as illustrated in FIG. 2A.The combustion chamber 32 is configured to receive a pulse of fuel 53and a pulse of air 55 and to ignite the fuel-air mixture to produce apulse of heated combustion products 59. The combustion chamber 32fluidly communicates with the tailpipe passage 42 to expel the heatedcombustion products 59 through the tailpipe passage 42 from the firstend 44 to the second end 46.

The pulse combustion dryer 30 may be generally configured as a resonatorsuch as a Helmholtz resonator to ignite the fuel-air mixtureperiodically, in contrast to the continuous ignition in conventionaldryers. The combustion chamber 32 ignites the fuel-air mixture toproduce a compression wave that propagates through the tailpipe passage42 from the first end 44 to the second end 46. The compression wave maybe followed by a rarefaction wave that propagates through the tailpipepassage 42 from the second end 46 to the first end 44 to draw air 55 andcombustion products 59 generally through the passage from the second end46 to the first end 44 and into the combustion chamber 32. Therarefaction wave may replenish the air 55 in the combustion chamber 32and may also provide an ignition source for subsequent ignitions. Thus,the length of the tailpipe 40 may be sized to control the period betweenignitions by controlling the period of the compression wave andrarefaction wave.

As illustrated in FIGS. 2A and 2B, the combustion chamber 32 may alsoreceive air 55 through one or more combustion chamber inlets 33. Thecombustion chamber 32 may receive fuel 53 which may be introducedgenerally in sequence with the rarefaction waves to be ignited by thecombustion products 59 carried back into the combustion chamber 32 bythe rarefaction wave. The fuel 53 may be solid, liquid, or gaseous orcombinations thereof. One or more igniters 35 may also be generallydisposed about the combustion chamber 32 to ignite the fuel-air mixture.

The pulse combustion dryer 30 may be configured so that the dryer feedmaterial 73 may be introduced generally into the tailpipe passage 42 asillustrated in FIG. 2A, to be entrained in the pulse of combustionproducts 59 and dried while being propelled through the tailpipe passage42 to the second end 46. In this embodiment, the drying passage 68includes the tailpipe passage 42. The collector 50 may be in fluidcommunication with the second end 46 to allow the collector 50 tocollect the dried material 65 from pulses of heated combustion products59. The pulse combustion dryer 30 uses the heat of the combustionproducts 59 to generally dry the dryer feed material 73 into the driedmaterial 75 as the dryer feed material 73 is propelled through thedrying passage 68.

In some embodiments, a drying chamber 60 that defines a drying chamberpassage 62 with a first drying chamber end 64 and a second dryingchamber end 66 is included in the pulse combustion dryer 30, asillustrated in FIG. 2B. The first drying chamber end 64 is generallyconnected to the second end 46 of the tailpipe 40 so that the dryingchamber passage 62 is in fluid communication with the tailpipe passage42, as illustrated, to allow pulses of combustion products 59 to passthrough the tailpipe passage 42 from the first end 44 to the second end46, and to pass through the drying chamber passage 62 from the firstdrying chamber end 64 to the second drying chamber end 66. The pulsecombustion dryer 30 is configured in this illustrated embodiment suchthat the dryer feed material 73 is introduced into the drying chamberpassage 62 generally proximate the first end 44, entrained in the pulseof combustion products 59, and propelled through the drying chamberpassage 62 to the second drying chamber end 66. Thus, in thisembodiment, the drying passage 68 includes the drying chamber passage62. The second drying chamber end 66 communicates with the collector 50to allow the collector to collect the dried material 75. The pulsecombustion dryer 30 uses the heat of the combustion products 59 togenerally dry the dryer feed material 73 into the dried material 75 asthe dryer feed material 73 is propelled through the drying passage 68.

The output power for certain embodiments of the pulse combustion dryer30 ranges from about 70 to about 1000 kW. Pulse combustion dryers 30operate at frequencies ranging from about 20 to 250 Hz in variousimplementations. In implementations having a drying chamber 60, theharmonic frequency of the drying chamber 60 may be matched to thefrequency of the tailpipe 40 so that the tailpipe 40 excites the dryingchamber passage 62. Pressure oscillation in the combustion chamber 32 of±10 kPa may produce velocity oscillation in the tailpipe 40 of about±100 m/s, in various implementations, so the instantaneous velocity ofthe gas jet at the second end 46 of the tailpipe 40 may vary from about0 to 100 m/s.

One or more feed inlets 77 may be included in the pulse combustion dryer30 to introduce the dryer feed material 73 into the drying passage 68 ofthe pulse combustion dryer 30. In some embodiments, the feed inlet 77 isgenerally configured as a pipe. The dryer feed material 73 may begenerally in a liquid form, or may be in the form of slurry, paste, orother viscous or non-Newtonian form. The dryer feed material 73 mayinclude various agglomerations, aggregations, non-homogeneities and/orchunks of solids, and suchlike would be typical of whole stillage 408and the various stillage fractions 409. The size of the solids includingthe various agglomerations, aggregations, non-homogeneities and/orchunks in the dryer feed material 73 may be limited generally by thesize of the passage defined by the feed inlet 77. As illustrated in FIG.2A, a slurry pump 79, which may be a screw pump, positive displacementpump, or other pump capable of pumping slurry, paste, or similar viscousand/or non-Newtonian dryer feed material(s) 73, may be used to introducethe dryer feed material 73 through the feed inlet 77. In variousembodiments, the feed inlet 77 may include a nozzle, sprayer, or similarfeature to atomize the dryer feed material 73 as the dryer feed material73 is introduced into the tailpipe passage 42 or into the drying chamberpassage 62 of the pulse combustion dryer 30. However, inclusion of thenozzle, sprayer, or similar feature to atomize the dryer feed material73 may not be necessary in various embodiments wherein the dryer feedmaterial 73 is whole stillage 408 and/or stillage fraction(s) 409 as thecombination of oscillatory flow, shock waves, and turbulence in thepulses of combustion products 59 within the drying passage 68 may tendto shear the dryer feed material 73 to produce dried material 75 havinga uniform size distribution.

The collector 50 is configured to receive the product stream exiting thetailpipe 40 or exiting the drying chamber passage 62, which containsevaporated liquids, dried material 75 and the combustion products 59, inorder to capture the dried material 75, as illustrated in FIGS. 2A and2B. The collector 50 can include a cyclone, a baghouse, other filters,or a series of such apparatus. In the embodiments illustrated in FIGS.2A and 2B, the collector 50 includes a baghouse 52 to collect the driedmaterial 75 into a bin 51.

An implementation of an ethanol production facility 10 configured as thedry grind facility 100 is illustrated in FIG. 3. As illustrated, theunits 92 to the ethanol production facility 10 include a mill 120, acooker 130, a liquefier 140, a saccharifier 150, a fermenter 160, adistillation column 170, and a dehydrator 180. The mill 120 is generallyconfigured to accept grain 402 as feedstock and to mill the grain 402 togenerally reduce the grain 402 into a meal and/or powder. The mill 120may include a hammer-mill, various grinder(s) and/or other millingmachines. The mill 120, as illustrated, is configured to mix the mealand/or powder with water to form slurry, and is in fluid communicationwith the cooker 130 to communicate the slurry to the cooker 130 as theliquid based processing stream 193.

The cooker 130, the liquefier 140, the saccharifier 150, the fermenter160, the distillation column 170, and the dehydrator 180 are in fluidcommunication to communicate the liquid based processing stream 193 fromthe cooker 130 to the liquefier 140, and, thence, to the saccharifier150, the fermenter 160, the distillation column 170, and the dehydrator180, as illustrated. The nature of the liquid based processing stream193 generally changes from slurry to mash to fermented mash, andfinally, to ethanol 406 and whole stillage 408 as the liquid basedprocessing stream 193 is communicated through the units 92 of the drygrind facility 100.

The cooker 130 heats the slurry along with enzymes such as alpha-amylasein order to solubilize the starch to produce a mash. This may bereferred to as gelatinization. Gelatinization allows enzymes to accessthe starch molecules to cleave the polymeric bonds and release thesimple sugars for fermentation. In various embodiments, the cooker 130may be configured as a jet cooker. The jet cooker, in variousimplementations, heats the slurry to temperatures in excess of 100° C.and at pressures of several atmospheres to gelatinize the starch. Watermolecules may be adsorbed or absorbed by the starch causing the starchmolecules to expand thereby weakening the structure of the starch andreleasing the starch molecules. The enzymes may also act in various waysto disrupt the structure of the starch. This, in turn, may allow waterto access additional starch molecules to further degrade the structureof the starch.

The cooker 130 may communicate the mash to the liquefier 140, asillustrated. In the liquefier 140, the temperature of the mash is fromabout 90° C. to about 95° C. in various implementations. The liquefier140 may add additional enzymes such as alpha-amylase may to the mash tocleave the long polysaccharide chains of the gelatinized starchmolecules into shorter chains such as maltodextrins andoligosaccharides. This cleaving of these long polysaccharide chainstends to reduce the viscosity of the mash, hence the term liquefier. Inother implementations, the cooker 130 and the liquefier 140 may becombined to both solubilize the starch and cleave the polysaccharidechains of the starch molecules.

As illustrated in FIG. 3, the liquefier 140 may communicate the mash tothe saccharifier 150. The saccharifier 150 adds more enzymes to the mashto convert the smaller sugar chains into fermentable sugars such asglucose, which could then be fermented into ethanol 406 by the yeast inthe fermenter 160. The saccharifier 150 may add enzymes such asgluco-amylase to hydrolyze maltodextrins and oligosaccharides intosingle glucose sugar molecules.

In the illustrated embodiment, the saccharifier 150 may communicate themash as the liquid based processing stream 193 to the fermentationchamber 162 of the fermenter 160. The fermenter 160 combines the mashwith yeast, for example saccharomyces cerevisae, in the fermentationchamber 162 to metabolize the fermentable sugars in the mash intoethanol 406. In other embodiments, the saccharifier 150 may be combinedwith the fermenter 160 to reduce starch into fermentable sugars and toferment the fermentable sugars. Those of ordinary skill in the art wouldrecognize other such combinations of units 92 upon review of thisdisclosure.

In the embodiment illustrated by FIG. 3, the fermenter communicates thefermented mash as the liquid based processing stream 193 to thedistillation column 170 to capture the ethanol 406 produced duringfermentation by distillation. The distillation column 170 communicatesthe ethanol 406, which contains some water, to the dehydrator 180 inthis implementation. The dehydrator 180 is configured to strip the waterfrom the ethanol 406 to produce essentially anhydrous ethanol 406. Thedehydrator 180 may include a dehydration column and/or other waterremoving units to strip residual water from the ethanol 406.

In this implementation, the distillation column 170 and the dehydrator180 produce stillage 407 in the form of whole stillage 408. The wholestillage 408, as illustrated, is the residual non-ethanol fraction ofthe liquid based processing stream 193 that remains after thedistillation column 170 captures the ethanol 406 from the liquid basedprocessing stream 193, and the dehydrator 180 strips the residual waterfrom the ethanol 406.

As illustrated in FIG. 3, the ethanol production facility 10 includesone or more pulse combustion dryer units 200 to produce generally driedco-products from whole stillage 408 including various fractions of wholestillage 408. Each pulse combustion dryer unit 200 includes at least onepulse combustion dryer 30 to produce dried material 75 from the dryerfeed material 73 communicated to the pulse combustion dryer unit 200.

The ethanol production facility 10 may include one or more stillageprocessing units 88 that cooperate with the pulse combustion dryer unit200 to produce generally dried co-products from whole stillage 408,stillage fractions 409, and/or combinations thereof. For example, asillustrated in FIG. 3, the ethanol production facility 10 may include acentrifuge unit 205 that includes one or more centrifuges 207 and anevaporator 210 configured to evaporate liquid. The centrifuge unit 205,as illustrated, is configured to receive the whole stillage 408 from thedistillation column 170 and from the dehydrator 180, and to separate theinsoluble solids from the soluble materials in the whole stillage 408 bycentrifugation. The insoluble solids are the WDG 414. The supernatantfrom the centrifuge unit 205 contains the soluble materials and istermed Thin Stillage 410. In other embodiments, the stillage processingunit 88 could be configured as a filter unit 215 that includes one ormore filters such as vacuum filters to separate the whole stillage 408into Thin Stillage 410 and WDG 414.

As illustrated in FIG. 3, the centrifuge unit 205 is in fluidcommunication with the evaporator to communicate the Thin Stillage 410to the evaporator 210. The evaporator 210 is heats the Thin Stillage 410to remove moisture from the Thin Stillage 410 by evaporation and form asyrup, which generally contains the soluble materials in the wholestillage 408. The syrup produced by the evaporator 210 from the ThinStillage 410 is CDS 412.

As illustrated in FIG. 3, the centrifuge unit 205 communicates the WDG414 to the pulse combustion dryer unit 200. The pulse combustion dryerunit 200 introduces the WDG 414 into the one or more pulse combustiondryers 30 included therein as the dryer feed material 73 to produce DDG418 in this implementation.

The centrifuge unit 205 may be configured to communicate the WDG 414 tothe pulse combustion dryer unit 200 and the evaporator 210 may beconfigured to communicate the CDS 412 to the pulse combustion dryer unit200. The pulse combustion dryer unit 200 may be configured to receivethe CDS 412 and the WDG 414, combine the CDS 412 and the WDG 414 invarious proportions to form DWGS, and to introduce the DWGS into the oneor more pulse combustion dryers 30 as the dryer feed material 73 toproduce DDGS 416 as the dried material 75.

As illustrated in FIG. 3, the pulse combustion dryer unit 200 receivesthe CDS 412 from the evaporator 210 and to introduce the CDS 412 intothe pulse combustion dryer unit 200 as the dryer feed material 73 andDDS 420 is produced therefrom as the dried material 75.

FIGS. 4A, 4B, and 4C illustrates alternative embodiments that processthe whole stillage 408 or the Thin Stillage 410 from the dry grindfacility 100. As illustrated in FIG. 4A, the pulse combustion dryer unit200 receives whole stillage 408 and the whole stillage 408 is introducedinto the one or more pulse combustion dryers 30 within the pulsecombustion dryer unit 200 as the dryer feed material 73 to produce DDGS416 as the dried material 75. The stillage processing unit 88 such asthe centrifuge unit 205 and the evaporator 210 are eliminated in thisimplementation.

The embodiment of FIG. 4B includes centrifuge unit 205 and pulsecombustion dryer unit 200. Whole stillage 408 is communicated to thecentrifuge unit 205, and the centrifuge unit communicates the ThinStillage 410 to the pulse combustion dryer unit 200, in this embodiment,and the Thin Stillage 410 is introduced into the one or more pulsecombustion dryers 30 within the pulse combustion dryer unit 200 as thedryer feed material 73 to produce DDS 420 as the dried material 75.Production of CDS by evaporation is eliminated in this implementation.

Centrifuge unit 205 and flocculator 220 are included in theimplementation illustrated in FIG. 4C. The centrifuge unit 205, asillustrated, communicates the Thin Stillage 410 to the flocculator 220.a flocculant 482 is added to the Thin Stillage 410 within theflocculator 220 to precipitate the dissolved materials out of the thinstillage 410 as a floc 484. The flocculant 482 may be isinglass, Irishmoss, alum, or other flocculants or combinations of flocculants thatwould be recognized by those skilled in the art upon review of thisdisclosure. The flocculator 220 in this implementation communicates thefloc 484 to the pulse combustion dryer unit 200, and the floc 484 isintroduced into the one or more pulse combustion dryers 30 within thepulse combustion dryer unit 200 as the dryer feed material 73 to produceDDS 420 as the dried material 75.

In various embodiments, the pulse combustion dryer unit 200 could beconfigured to combine the floc 484 with the WDG 414 and introduce thecombined floc-WDG into the pulse combustion drier 30 as the dryer feedmaterial 73 to produce a type of DDGS 416 as the dried material 75. Instill other embodiments, the whole stillage 408 is communicated to theflocculator 220, and the flocculator 220 communicates the resulting floc484 to the pulse combustion dryer unit 200. The floc 484 is introducedinto the one or more pulse combustion dryers 30 within the pulsecombustion dryer unit 200 as the dryer feed material 73 to produce DDGS416 as the dried material 75.

An embodiment of an ethanol production facility 10 configured as the wetmill facility 300 is illustrated in FIG. 5. The wet mill facility 300,as illustrated, includes one or more units 92. The wet mill facility300, as illustrated, accepts grain 402 as feedstock, extracts germ 428,fiber 432, and gluten 436 from the grain 402, and ferments sugarsderived from starches in the grain 402 to produce ethanol 406. The wetmill facility 300 captures the ethanol 408 and produces a type of wholestillage 408 termed GFE 422 as the remainder in this implementation. Inthis implementation, the GFE 422 generally contains solublenon-fermented materials in the grain 402 feedstock minus the germ 428,fiber 432, and gluten 436. The GFE 422 further contains yeast wastedfrom the wet mill facility 300 in this implementation.

As illustrated in FIG. 5, the wet mill facility 300 communicates the GFE422 to the pulse combustion dryer unit 200. The pulse combustion dryerunit 200 introduces GFE 422 into the one or more pulse combustion dryers30 included therein as the dryer feed material 73 to produce DGFE 424 asthe dried material 75.

Various other implementations could include one or more stillageprocessing units 88 configured to concentrate, separate, or otherwiseprocess the GFE 422 prior to introduction of the GFE 422 into the pulsecombustion dryers 30 as dryer feed material 73. For example, anevaporator 210 could be used to concentrate the GFE 422 and theconcentrated GFE 422 from the evaporator 210 introduced into the pulsecombustion dryers 30 as dryer feed material 73 to produce DGFE as thedried material 75. As would be recognized by those skilled in the artupon review of this disclosure, other stillage processing units 88 thatcooperate with the pulse combustion dryer unit 200 to produce DGFE 424and other dried co-products 430 from GFE could be included in variousother embodiments of the ethanol production facility 10.

Methods for the production of one or more dried co-products 430 fromstillage 407 derived from the production of ethanol 406 are disclosedherein. The methods, in various aspects, may include providing anethanol production facility 10 having a liquid based processing stream193, providing at least one pulse combustion dryer 30, producingstillage 407 by the ethanol production facility, and introducing thestillage 407 into the pulse of heated combustion products 59 in thedrying passage 68 of the pulse combustion dryer 30 as the dryer feedmaterial 73 to produce co-product 430 as the dried material 75. Invarious aspects, the methods include capturing ethanol 406 from theliquid based processing stream 193 and obtaining stillage 407 from atleast portions of the remainder of the liquid based processing stream193. The methods may include extracting one or more stillage fractions409 from whole stillage 408. The methods, in various aspects, mayinclude providing one or more stillage processing units 88 and mayinclude processing the whole stillage 408 and/or stillage fractions 409including extracting one or more stillage fractions 409 from the wholestillage 408, separating, dewatering, and/or otherwise processing thewhole stillage 408 and/or stillage fractions 409 using the one or morestillage processing units 88. The methods may also include introducingthe whole stillage 408, the stillage fractions 409, and/or combinationsthereof into the one or more pulse combustion dryers 30 as the dryerfeed material 73 thereby obtaining one or more dried co-products 430 asthe dried material 75.

In various aspects, the methods include introducing stillage from anethanol production facility into a pulse combustion dryer as a dryerfeed material thereby obtaining a dried material therefrom. In variousaspects, the stillage includes whole stillage and the dried materialobtained therefrom includes dried distiller's grains and solubles. Invarious aspects, the stillage includes whole stillage in the form ofgrain fermented extractives and the dried material obtained therefromincludes dried grain fermented extractives. In various aspects, thestillage includes wet distiller's grains and the dried material obtainedtherefrom includes dried distiller's grains. In various aspects, thestillage includes thin stillage and the dried material obtainedtherefrom includes dried distiller's solubles.

In various aspects, the methods include producing stillage using anethanol production facility, extracting a stillage fraction from saidstillage, and introducing the stillage fraction into a pulse combustiondryer as a dryer feed materials thereby obtaining a dried materialtherefrom. In various aspects, the stillage fraction includes wetdistiller's grains and the dried material obtained therefrom includesdried distiller's grains. In various aspects, the stillage fractionincludes thin stillage and the dried material obtained therefromincludes dried distiller's solubles. In various aspects, the stillagefraction includes condensed distiller's solubles obtained therefrom andthe dried material includes dried distiller's solubles.

An embodiment of the methods is presented in the flowchart illustratedin FIG. 6. This illustrated embodiment of the methods begins with thestep 605 of inputting grain into the ethanol production facility 10. Themethod proceeds with the steps 610, 615 of extracting the starch fromthe grain, and converting the starch to simple sugars, respectively.These are followed by the step 620 fermenting sugars to produce ethanoland step 625 capturing the ethanol thereby producing stillage in step630. The method, as illustrated, concludes with the step 635 ofintroducing the stillage into the pulse combustion dryer and step 640 ofproducing dried co-product. In various aspects, the dried co-product 430may be DDS, DDGS, or DGFE.

The foregoing discussion discloses and describes merely exemplaryimplementations. Upon study of this specification, one of ordinary skillin the art will readily recognize from such discussion, and from theaccompanying figures and claims, that various changes, modifications andvariations can be made therein without departing from the spirit andscope of the following claims.

1. An apparatus, comprising: an ethanol production facility adapted toproduce ethanol and stillage from grain; and a pulse combustion dryer incommunication with the ethanol production facility to receive stillagetherefrom and adapted to dry the stillage into a dried material.
 2. Theapparatus, as in claim 1, wherein the stillage comprises whole stillageand the dried material comprises dried distiller's grains and solubles.3. The apparatus, as in claim 1, wherein the stillage comprises wholestillage and the dried material comprises dried grain fermentedextractives.
 4. The apparatus, as in claim 1, wherein the stillagecomprises wet distiller's grains and the dried material comprises drieddistiller's grains.
 5. The apparatus, as in claim 1, wherein thestillage comprises thin stillage and the dried material comprises drieddistiller's solubles.
 6. The apparatus, as in claim 1, wherein thestillage comprises condensed distiller's solubles and the dried materialcomprises dried distiller's solubles.
 7. The apparatus, as in claim 1,further comprising: a stillage processing unit in communication with theethanol production facility to receive whole stillage therefrom, thestillage processing unit adapted to extract a stillage fraction from thewhole stillage, the stillage processing unit in communication with thepulse combustion dryer to introduce the stillage fraction into the pulsecombustion dryer as the dryer feed material to produce a dried materialtherefrom.
 8. The apparatus, as in claim 7, wherein the stillagefraction consists essentially of wet distiller's grains and the driedmaterial produced therefrom consists essentially of dried distiller'sgrains.
 9. The apparatus, as in claim 6, wherein the stillage fractionconsists essentially of condensed distiller's solubles and the driedmaterial produced therefrom consists essentially of dried distiller'ssolubles.
 10. The apparatus, as in claim 6, wherein the stillagefraction consists essentially of thin stillage and the dried materialproduced therefrom consists essentially of dried distiller's solubles.11. An apparatus, comprising: means for producing ethanol and stillage;and a pulse combustion dryer in communication with the means forproducing ethanol and stillage to receive stillage therefrom and adaptedto dry the stillage into a dried material.
 12. A method, comprising:introducing stillage from an ethanol production facility into a pulsecombustion dryer as a dryer feed material thereby obtaining a driedmaterial therefrom.
 13. The method, as in claim 12, wherein the stillagecomprises whole stillage and the dried material obtained therefromcomprises dried distiller's grains and solubles.
 14. The method, as inclaim 12, wherein the stillage consists essentially of whole stillageand the dried material obtained therefrom consists essentially of drieddistiller's grains and solubles.
 15. The method, as in claim 12, whereinthe stillage comprises whole stillage and the dried material comprisesdried grain fermented extractives.
 16. The method, as in claim 12,wherein the stillage consists essentially of whole stillage and thedried material consists essentially of dried grain fermentedextractives.
 17. The method, as in claim 12, wherein the stillagecomprises wet distiller's grains and the dried material comprises drieddistiller's grains.
 18. The method, as in claim 12, wherein the stillagecomprises thin stillage and the dried material comprises drieddistiller's solubles.
 19. The method, as in claim 12, wherein thestillage comprises condensed distiller's solubles and the dried materialcomprises dried distiller's solubles.
 20. A method, comprising:producing stillage using an ethanol production facility; extracting astillage fraction from said stillage; and introducing the stillagefraction into a pulse combustion dryer as a dryer feed materials therebyobtaining a dried material therefrom.
 21. The method, as in claim 20,wherein the stillage fraction comprises wet distiller's grains and thedried material obtained therefrom comprises dried distiller's grains.22. The method, as in claim 20, wherein the stillage fraction comprisesthin stillage and the dried material obtained therefrom comprises drieddistiller's solubles.
 23. The method, as in claim 20, wherein thestillage fraction comprises condensed distiller's solubles and the driedmaterial obtained therefrom comprises dried distiller's solubles. 24.The method, as in claim 20, wherein the stillage fraction consistsessentially of wet distiller's grains and the dried material obtainedtherefrom consists essentially of dried distiller's grains.
 25. Themethod, as in claim 20, wherein the stillage fraction consistsessentially of thin stillage and the dried material obtained therefromconsists essentially of dried distiller's solubles.
 26. The method, asin claim 20, wherein the stillage fraction consists essentially ofcondensed distiller's solubles and the dried material obtained therefromconsists essentially of dried distiller's solubles.